Sunday, April 24, 2011

April Harvest Update and the Emergence of Asparagus

This weekend, I harvested a good amount of greens for an Easter dinner party we attended on Sunday. I picked a bunch of claytonia and added some mizuna, spinach and baby lettuce to the mix. Thankfully, it was a hit!

The Red Russian kale has started to flower. I've been trying to harvest as much as I could, but to be honest, after a long winter I'm looking forward to pulling them up and planting something different. Does anyone know whether kale buds are edible?

I've been harvesting some of our overwintered scallions as well. The remainder of these will have to be pulled, chopped up and frozen as they are showing signs of bolting already.

Finally, our Jersey Supreme asparagus are starting to emerge from the ground. It's nice to see a sight like this, especially on this Easter - a holiday traditionally observed by pagans to celebrate this time of rebirth and fertility.

I planted these asparagus crowns last spring and they eventually grew into healthy plants last year. There is some debate on whether you should begin harvesting the tender shoots in the 2nd or 3rd year, but according to Ohio State University:

The year after planting, asparagus can be harvested several times throughout a three-week period, depending on air temperatures. Research shows there is no need to wait two years after planting before harvesting. In fact, harvesting the year after planting will stimulate more bud production on the crown and provide greater yields in future years, as compared with waiting two years before harvesting.

Sounds good to me! In fact, the spears that are emerging now are of good size so I am looking forward to seeing them on our dinner plate soon.

23 comments:

I've heard of people eating the flowering stocks of kale and collards. After all, they're closely related to broccoli. And I believe broccoli rabe is actually more closely related to turnips than to broccoli itself. This guy likes "mock" kale broccoli better than "real" broccoli:http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/mock-broccoli/

Lovely harvest Thomas! I harvested our asparagus lightly the first year after planting, and it didn't seem to do it any harm. We're on the 4th year now and it's producing like crazy. I do think the newer varieties like the Jersey line are more vigorous than older ones.

I planted some bare root crowns in mid March here but nothing is happening even now. I am in zone 7 so they are really late, and I am starting to worry that they are all dead. Did you have similar experience last year when you just planted yours? Thanks!

I don't know about the red russian kale but I have found the flower heads of lacinato kale to be tasty, although the apids usually beat me to them. How exciting to have home grown asparagus, that's something that I haven't grown nor will I be likely to. I have been buying the first local asparagus at the farmers market and it has been sooo delicious. If you end up with too much asparagus it is delicious pickled.

I've done tons of reading about asparagus over the four years since we planted ours. One of the things I learned is that you need to harvest ALL of the spears, even the spindly ones. So over the next three weeks don't leave a single spear to grow. After your 3-week harvest period is up, just let them grow as they will but don't harvest any more until next season.

We do share a lot of asparagus! We still eat it almost every day for 6 to 8 weeks. I love it. My sister taught me that it makes a HUGE difference to plunge it into actual ice water after lightly steaming it. It's really amazing what that does. We also like it roasted in the oven or on the grill, and I put leftover cold asparagus in any kind of sandwich.